


we can pretend we're normal people.

by BigScaryDinos



Category: The Haunting of Bly Manor (TV)
Genre: F/F, Girls Kissing, Holding Hands, How Do I Tag, I Will Go Down With This Ship, I'm Bad At Tagging, Love, My First Work in This Fandom, No Plot/Plotless, One Shot, Slice of Life, Tattoos, True Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:42:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28101120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigScaryDinos/pseuds/BigScaryDinos
Summary: After Jamie & Dani arrive in America; Jamie reveals a bucket list. Getting a tattoo is number one, written in pink pen.xxplotless about getting inked.
Relationships: Dani Clayton/Jamie
Kudos: 56





	we can pretend we're normal people.

The walls themselves turned her stomach, looking from side to side was making her seasick. Green; unlike grass but more akin to illness. It seemed the entire room was washed in sick artificial light. Tile, paint, even the thick leather on the chair in the center of the room were covered in halogen and painted such an ugly color. A mush color. 

Jamie felt a thumb rub calming circles into her palm. 

“You sure about this?” 

That was the wonderful thing about Dani. She didn’t pass judgement, just offered a presence. Dani just  _ was _ . With Dani’s thumb applying the same consistent pleasant pressure into her calloused skin she felt she could breathe again. 

“Absolutely.” Jamie smiled. She felt human again. She felt she was an unstoppable creature when she faced the world with Dani at her side. “On my list isn’t it?” 

Dani doesn’t smile as easily or as often as Jamie does, but she has other quirks. The way her eyes crinkle near the outside. The way her lips turn slightly. The way her breathing comes out in two short puffs at once before returning to normal. She’s pleased, of course. All the signs of happiness far away from watching eyes and reserved for true observers. Dani nods twice. 

“Is she gonna sit in here with you?” A man asks, tall and stick thin with a black mustache that covers most of his face. He wears black gloves and a red flannel shirt. Jamie can’t tell if he’s young or old. Can’t tell much about him. Can’t even recall when he walked into the room. “It’s fine either way. Just need to bring in another chair if she wants to stay.” He nods towards Dani as if Dani isn’t entitled to answer these questions. As if she’s not even in the room. 

“Would you like to stay, Poppins?” 

“Do you want me to stay?” 

“Might hurt. Might hurt an awful lot.” Jamie teases, as if it were Dani who just signed the papers to get needles poked into her skin. Jamie is used to hurting It doesn’t bother her so much as distance. “Might need you to hold my hand, calm me down so I don’t go screaming like a madman.” 

Dani does smile here, finally letting it grace her face and light it up in a way often unseen around strangers. She laughs with her lips sealed shut before letting the sound slip through like a secret. It’s the build of the moment, seeing her bathed in blinding light before a background of baby shit green but it’s like bubbles rising inside Jamie’s stomach. They bubble until all the energy pops from her mouth in a matching laugh. 

“Stay. Please.” It’s less begging, less request and more consent. Dani nods again, her smile staining her lips like cherry pie stains. The man leaves the room and comes back with a folding chair which he props next to the seat Jamie is expected to take. She does. Dani moves with her like they are connected and continues the calming circles. 

Jamie hikes her pant leg up, exposing the thin pale flesh of her ankle. The man shaves the bony bit down to fresh, clean skin. Jamie is used to the hurt, so she doesn’t mind the slight sting as he cleans her. She sucks in one inhale and waits.  _ Breathe  _ she can imagine Dani saying, and she does. 

Dani understood the desire of course. The day after they arrived in American she found a list, each line written in different fonts, different pens, different colors. Jamie had left it on the end table of the motel. It had been a project that ran over years. 

“It’s a bucket list. All the things I wanna do before I die.” 

“You won’t die. Not for a long time.” Dani’s hair shone in the morning sunlight as she held the paper with reverence, panic creeping into her voice. 

“Okay, well I know that. But I wanna do this with you - before we get too old to enjoy it.” 

After Jamie made the appointment Dani never asked what Jamie was getting. Dani simply  _ was.  _ She was supportive. She was loving. She was  _ there.  _ Jamie understood she could get a ten hour long tattoo that covered her face and Dani would still love her. That was the thing about love. It was wonderful. 

It does hurt, not as much as heartbreak. Not as much as thinking of a future without Dani wrapped up inside of it. Not so much as many things, but after a few minutes of acute pain it turns to a dull ache as the buzz of the needles fill the room. 

The thumb rubs it’s calming circles and never stops. 

“Poppins, how’d you manage one of these?” 

Dani has one tattoo, a butterfly on the very top of her left foot. Jamie calls it a secret since nobody ever sees it. She rarely wears shoes without socks. It hides.  _ Inside a cocoon.  _ Jamie will whisper in the middle of a dark night when she kisses each butterfly wing before she travels upwards to a more desired treasure. 

“It’s not so bad.” Dani smiles, the hands stay twisted up together. Before they know it, it’s over. An experience come and gone. Thirty minutes on a clock. A reminder seared into skin forever. 

“Wanna look?” Jamie is positive this man had a name at one point, but he’s not much more than a side character inside her personal fairy tail. 

“Absolutely.” 

She pulls her leg up and looks from upside down before understanding that’s fruitless. She stands on one bare foot and walks to a mirror positioned behind her chair. Maybe she’ll get some disease from this tile floor cleaned once every hundred years - but she doesn’t care. With the stinging sensation still present she wants to see it. Wants to see the symbol she’s finally settled on. Dani stands to look in the mirror as well. It’s perfect, placed right above the jut of her ankle. White highlights through the simple design. 

“A moonflower.” Dani says, softly finally seeing the full image reflected back. 

“No matter what I always have a piece of you. Of us.” Jamie laughs. Saying it out loud sounds like releasing some insane thought. She doesn’t regret it at all. She especially doesn’t regret it when Dani turns and kisses her full on the lips, crushing her body against Jamie. 

“Hey now.” Mustache speaks, interrupting the moment. Jamie turns with daggers inside her eyes, “you can’t be barefoot in the shop if you’re not getting your foot done.” He finishes. The two just laugh. 

It’s perfect. 

**Author's Note:**

> written with a girl I love a whole lot in mind.


End file.
